BMC Toys is one of the more interesting names in the modern plastic toy-soldier hobby, especially if you like the classic 1950s–70s “army men” style.

BMC Toys was founded by Bill McMaster in 1991. McMaster was heavily influenced by the classic plastic playsets made by companies such as Louis Marx in the 1950s and 1960s. After his death in 2014, VictoryBuy continued the BMC Toys line with his family.

A particularly interesting part of BMC is its “Classic” line, which uses vintage molds associated with companies including Louis Marx, Payton, and MPC. Some BMC figures are essentially continuations or reproductions of designs from the golden age of American plastic toys.

BMC concentrates heavily on roughly 1:32 scale / 54 mm figures. For example, its D-Day figures stand up to about 2.45 inches tall. They're generally made from flexible LDPE plastic and have the deliberately somewhat chunky, toy-like appearance associated with vintage army men.

The range goes well beyond generic green soldiers:

• World War II — Americans, Germans, Japanese, British, Russians, vehicles and artillery.
• American Civil War — Union and Confederate troops, artillery, wagons and battlefield accessories.
• American Revolution — colonists, British troops and battle sets.
• World War I
• Korean War
• French & Indian War
• Mexican Border War
• Spanish-American War / Rough Riders
• Alamo
• Historical civilian and farm sets
• Science-fiction, pirates and prehistoric figures through related Tim-Mee products. There are also Plastic Army Women, including 36-piece figure sets and larger 100-piece mixed-color buckets.

Playsets is where BMC gets particularly nostalgic. Rather than simply selling bags of figures, BMC produces sets designed around an entire scenario, much like classic Marx playsets.

Some current examples include:

• Iwo Jima Island — 72 pieces including soldiers, tanks and island terrain.
• WWII Secret Stronghold — 36 pieces with a German bunker.
• D-Day Tank Battle — 36 pieces.
• Battle of the Bulge — a huge 130-piece set.
• Battle of Saipan — 45 pieces.
• Civil War Battle of Pickett's Charge — 101 pieces.
• Civil War Battle of Atlanta — 71 pieces.
• Rough Riders Charge Up San Juan Hill — 102 pieces.
• WWII Pacific Theater Battle — 134 pieces.

Why collectors find BMC interesting

There's an important distinction between BMC as a toy company and companies making highly detailed collector miniatures.

BMC's appeal is largely the classic toy-soldier aesthetic. These aren't intended to compete with ultra-detailed historical miniatures. They're meant to evoke the big boxed playsets people remember from the Marx era: colorful plastic, recognizable poses, opposing armies, tanks, artillery, buildings, fences and terrain.

In fact, BMC explicitly describes its style as being based on the classic realistic style of the 1950s and 1960s.

That's also why the Marx connection is significant. Louis Marx was one of the giants of the American toy-soldier business, producing elaborate historical playsets as well as inexpensive bags of individual soldiers. BMC's use of vintage Marx molds effectively keeps some of that design tradition alive.

BMC vs. vintage Marx

If you're familiar with old Marx sets, BMC is especially interesting because it occupies a sort of middle ground:

Vintage Marx
→ Original 1950s–70s toys
→ Highly collectible
→ Often expensive depending on rarity and condition
→ Original boxes, accessories and colors can be important

BMC Classic
→ Modern production
→ Uses some vintage molds
→ Much easier to actually play with
→ Newer packaging and production
→ Lets you build large historical armies without hunting down every original vintage piece

If you want to actually play with a Marx-style army rather than preserve a 60-year-old boxed set, BMC is quite appealing.

One other interesting wrinkle: not everything sold by BMC is necessarily made in the same place. BMC says its Classic Army Men collection uses vintage molds and that some current products are made in the USA, while individual products can have different manufacturing origins—for example, the D-Day figure set currently listed by BMC is made in China.